Love Sucks | The Vampire Diaries

You're Undead to Me

*Third Person's P.O.V.*
       
        "No friend discounts. No freebies. No pay-you-later's," Caroline instructed the Gilbert sisters the next day at the Secy Suds Car Wash. "We are not running a charity here,"
        "No, we are not," Annabelle quickly nodded in agreement, just as Stefan walked up behind her and Elena.
        "Hi," he greeted, and Elena looked up, a smile breaking out on her face when she saw him.
        "Hey," she grinned, immediately standing up from where she was sitting beside Annabelle by the money stand, Annabelle following suit.
        "Uh, the event is called Sexy Suds, you know," Caroline eyed Stefan, Annabelle, and Elena's layered clothing critically as she also stood up, before walking away.
        "Did we just get scolded?" Stefan asked.
        "And judged. Yeah," Annabelle nodded with a tight smile, before giving him a real smile, which he returned, and walking past him and her sister, knowing that Elena will handle the money until Caroline came back. She quickly took off her sweater and crop-top, leaving her in her shorts and bikini as she walked over to Bonnie and Matt, who were both already washing a car, "Hey, guys,"
        "Hey," Bonnie greeted her best friend with a smile, but Matt kept quiet, which made the two girls turn to look at him, only to see him gazing sadly at Elena and Stefan, who were kissing at the moment. The two girls shared a sympathetic look, before Annabelle turned to Matt.
        "Uh-uh. No. None of that tortured pining stuff, okay?" she said, snapping Matt's attention back to her and Bonnie.
        "I'm just observing," Matt said nonchalantly, and Annabelle gave him a look.
        "Mm-hmm," she and Bonnie both hummed sarcastically, before Bonnie turned to one of the cheerleaders as a young man pulled up in his car.
        "Tiki! This one's yours," she pointed to the car.
        "Why do I always get the homely ones?" Tiki groaned, and Annabelle stared at her in disbelief. How could she be so rude, especially since the car's owner could hear her? "Just to be clear, your car's a P.O.S. I mean, we can wash it, but it's still a P.O.S.," Tiki said to the young man after he got out the car.
        '"You don't have to be rude," Annabelle snapped, glaring at the dark-skinned girl.
        "Yeah, 'rude' is uglying up the road with that junker," Tiki retorted as the young man walked away.
        Annabelle glared at the cheerleader, feeling her blood boil. She always hated rude people and bullies, and could never stand for someone to belittle someone else in front of her. Not noticing her own actions, Annabelle's eyes traveled down to the bucket Tiki was filling up with water, and then to the hose in the dark-skinned girl's hand. Annabelle once again thought about the anger she felt towards Tiki at the moment, when suddenly water exploded from the hose, splashing Tiki with the water mixed with with the washing liquid for the cars from the bucket in the process, making Tiki scream and jump back as the hose continued to splash her with water. Annabelle and Bonnie jumped back, the Gilbert staring at the scene before her with wide eyes as she tried to comprehend what just happened, while Matt ran over to Tiki, who continued to scream as the hose continued to splash water in her face.
        "What the...?! Oh, my God! What the hell?!"
        "Whoa! Hey!" Matt exclaimed as he ran over to her, quickly grabbing the hose from her and turning the water down, before looking at the girl with laughter clear in his eyes and expression as he handed her a towel, "Wet and wild, Tik," he said, just barely managing to hold in his laughter as he turned to look at Bonnie, who was staring at Tiki with her mouth wide open as she also tried not to laugh, and Annabelle, who was still staring at Tiki with wide eyes and a slightly fearful expression.
        "Uh, I'm gonna go get some towels," she said to Bonnie, her eyes still on Tiki.
        "Okay," Bonnie said quietly, inspecting Annabelle's expression for a few seconds, seeing the fear in her eyes. Her eyes widened in realization, "Wait a second," she grabbed Annabelle's arm as the Gilbert girl proceeded to walk away, "Did you do this?" Bonnie asked in a whisper.
        "I don't know," Annabelle whispered back, before pulling her arm away and walking away quickly. It's true, she didn't know. She had no control over any of that. Sure, it could have been a coincidence. Just because she was angry at Tiki (which was nothing out of the ordinary, by the way) and a hose splashed the dark-skinned girl a few moments later didn't mean anything. It could have been just a coincidence... But Annabelle didn't believe in coincidences anymore.
        "Hey!" she called out to her sister, who was now sitting by the money stand and was talking to an older dark-skinned man with a white beard. "We're out of towels,"
        "Yeah, I know. Caroline went to grab some," Elena replied as she continued to fiddle with the money in the case, and Annabelle nodded as she plopped down next to her with a sigh.
        "Okay, I'll wait," she said, but not in an annoyed tone. In fact, she was more than happy to stay away from Tiki for the time being.
        "That'll be $20," Elena turned to the older man in front of them, who hummed in acknowledgement as she took out his wallet, "I saw you last night," Elena said, making Annabelle looked at her with furrowed eyebrows as the man looked at looked at Elena, "You were talking to a friend of mine? At the Grill?" Elena prompted the man's memory, as he didn't seem to recall what she did.
        "Well, I... I thought it was somebody I knew," the man nodded.
        "Stefan Salvatore,"
        "Nah, it can't be," the man shook his head. "It's... just my mind playing trick on me," he said, and Annabelle leaned forward in interest, wondering why the man said that it 'couldn't have been' Stefan.
        "Wait, where do you think you'd seen him before?" she asked curiously, and the man turned to look at her.
        "When I first moved here, I stayed at the Salvatore Boarding House,"
        "Oh," Elena murmured in interest.
        "Stefan was... just passing through to visit his uncle. I mean, none of us knew he was even here until the attack,"
        "The attack?" Annabelle repeated with furrowed brows.
        "His uncle got killed," the man clarified. "Mauled by an animal in the woods,"
        "His uncle, Zach?" Elena asked, and Annabelle turned to give her a look. How on Earth could it have been Zach if Zach Salvatore still lived at the boarding house?
        "Mm-mmm," the man shook his head. "Joseph,"
        "I'm sorry, sir, I don't think we're familiar with the story," Annabelle said, not wanting the man to think that she and Elena were being nosy.
        "Oh, how could you? I mean, this happened years ago," the man said in an understanding voice.
        "Grandpa, you gotta go," came a voice from behind Elena, and she and Annabelle turned around, only to see Tiki walking up to them, which made Annabelle stiffen a bit, "Mom wants you home. Okay?" Tiki said, and the man nodded before walking away, and Tiki turned tot he Gilbert sisters. "He wasn't bugging you, was he? He's a little alzy-heimer,"
        "Uh, no, he was sweet," Elena replied as she and Annabelle got up from their seats and quickly walked after the man, both of them wanting to hear the rest of the story and Annabelle wanting to get away from Tiki, "Hey, sir," Elena put a hand on Tiki's grandfather's shoulder, pulling him to a stop gently as she and Annabelle stopped in front of him. "I'm sorry, um, are you sure that the man that you saw... that you knew, his name was Stefan Salvatore?"
        "Yes," the man nodded. "I remember his ring, and his brother-"
        "Damon?" Annabelle interrupted, and the man nodded.
        "Yeah. Stefan and Damon Salvatore," he said, and the girls shared a look.
        "When was this?" Annabelle asked after a second.
        "It was early June, 1953. Yeah. June, 1953,"